Gadget Lab Podcast: Let’s Talk About the iPhone and Diesel Exhaust

Podcast

WIRED executive editor Joe Brown joins us again this week for a discussion about phones and cars. It’s iPhone day, after all, and there are many things to say about it, including our feelings about iPhone review embargoes (nope, don’t like ’em). In the second half of the program, the hosts discuss the troubles at Volkswagen, and Michael coins the word Fahrvergdiken.

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Gadget Lab Podcast: Microdosing Designers

Joe Brown joins Michael and David this week (Molly is out snorkeling in the alps). At the top of the show, there’s a lively discussion about hoverboards, why they’re terrible, and why they aren’t going away. Then Joe gets called away on boss-related business, so Michael and David discuss streaming sports, what an Apple-run streaming content service would look like, the Google Pixel C, and the OMG WTF iPhone battery case that we all guffawed/vomited over this week.

Gadget Lab Podcast: Animated Gifts

It’s finally December, which means it’s time to buy wonderful gadgets for your loved ones (or yourself). That’s the central theme of this episode, but the talk eventually centers around music streaming services: the death of Rdio, the rising hopes of Amazon Prime Music, the dominance of Spotify, and whether YouTube Red has any chance of making a big dent.

Gadget Lab Podcast: The iPad Pro Crowds Our Thoughts—And Our Desks

The iPad Pro makes its way into the studio this week, and though you cannot see its largeness, you can hear David talk about its importance—not only for Apple as a profit-booster, but for the future of how we use tablets. Also, Molly went to Facebook this week to learn about how the company is revamping its Events product for sending invitations to public and private gatherings. The other Facebook software launch of note is Notify, which the hosts discuss at the top of the show. Near the end, Molly and Michael rib David for never having seen The Godfather (yep!).

Gadget Lab Podcast: We’ve Hit Peak Potato

This week, David discusses the Apple TV, and Molly shares her experiences with some new kitchen tech from Innit that makes all of your tough cooking decisions for you. Somewhere near the beginning, David expresses his concern over the inevitability of his eating habits destroying his life, and considers a juice cleanse. Michael tries to talk him out of it. Special guest appearance by Toto Doge.

Gadget Lab Podcast: We Won’t Stand for This

With David out this week, Molly and Michael are free to spread positivity and joy. Not really: Molly spent some time in the Altwork reclining workstation, and Mike doesn’t understand why anyone would want to work lying down. Molly also reported on Facebook’s “Other Inbox,” which the company is designing out of existence. Mike doesn’t understand why anyone would have wanted that, either.

Gadget Lab Podcast: Mobile OS Wars

This week, David and Michael both tested the new Nexus phones from Google. David tackled the 6P, and Michael used the 5X. Both of them had positive experiences, and they talk about the phones on this episode (Molly is off in Portlandia). Also, the hosts discuss the differences between iOS and Android, and what sorts of quibbles, nit-picks, and other things are keeping people from switching from one platform to another.

Gadget Lab Podcast: Does Moments Solve Twitter’s Biggest Problems?

We’re back to a full house this week, with Molly, David, and Michael triple-threating the roundtable. The crew discusses the changes to Twitter’s app, and how the new Moments feature changes the non-tweeting public’s experience with the service. Also, does Moments solve Twitter’s biggest hurdles?

Podcast

In the second half of the show, discussions turn to Microsoft and all of its new hardware. We like the phones, feel meh about the Surface Pro 4, dig the new laptop, and positively love Bryan Roper (who is from Florida, not Louisiana, sorry B).

Gadget Lab Podcast: We’ve Got Google Products Coming Out of Our Ears

Podcast

Molly’s out this week, so Michael and David open the Boy’s Club and fill the room with their beautiful male voices. Topics include in-ear headphones (cheap versus expensive and the merits of each) and the weird blue-wheeled unicycles that seem to be infesting the Bay Area. But the bulk of the show is taken up by discussion of the new Google products we saw this week: new Nexus phones, new Chromecasts, and the strange but compelling Pixel C tablet. Also, jokes about Ello.

Gadget Lab Podcast: New Amazon Gear, New Tablets, New iOS

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Some nine days out from Apple’s big media event, everyone’s had enough time to process the new product announcements, and they’re now fully prepared to talk about them. The crew (Molly, David, and Michael this week) also discusses the newest products released by Amazon—all six of them. Next, predictions for the coming content-blocking reckoning, fueled by iOS 9’s newly allowed content-blocking apps for your phone. Also: the Facebook “dislike” button, which isn’t really a dislike button. But it’s coming anyway, so click it!

Gadget Lab Podcast: Here Comes Apple

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This week’s podcast is actually last week’s podcast—you’ll note our collective sort of-enthusiasm for the now-over Apple Event. The venerable Joe Brown sat in for Mike (who’s been out sick, well wishes, Mike! We miss you!) and we got down to business right away, business being letting Joe tell us we’re all wrong about smartwatches (he might be right).

But afterward, we dove right into Apple hype. Would there be a giant iPad? A talking Apple TV? New iPhones!? Well, we know the answers to all of these things already, but go back and listen to what we were totally wrong (and right) about. And please, someone convince Molly that it’s time to upgrade from the 5S. Seriously.

Gadget Lab Podcast: Can Amazon Make Non-Crummy Gadgets?

Podcast

Things are back to normal on our weekly news-chat show: everyone’s arguing about television. The team talks about cord-cutting, and how it’s increasingly a bad financial proposition considering how expensive all that premium content is when you buy it a-la-carte. Unfair! Amazon is experimenting with its future hardware plans, and the hosts discuss what could be next for the retail/services/everything giant. Lastly, while David and Molly engage in a heated debate about the ethics of using Uber, Michael steps into the street, hails a taxi cab, and disappears.

Gadget Lab Podcast: Hell Is Other People

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It’s episode #250 this week on the Gadget Lab. And wouldn’t you know it, even with such a landmark occasion to celebrate, Michael missed it. He was off snorkeling in the alps or something, so Molly and David recorded the show without him. The pair discusses the pain caused by the many human interactions we’re forced to endure these days—through Ashley Madison, AirBnB, Craigslist, and co-living situations. Dour stuff! Given that Michael’s role on the team is usually that of “reasonable moderator,” without him there to participate, the discussion gets pretty dark.

Gadget Lab Podcast: We Have Seen the Shower of the Future, and It Is Good

Podcast

Samsung has two new devices coming out; a pair of oversize phones from the Galaxy line, the S6 Edge Plus and the Note 5. Well, there are actually three devices if you count the snap-on physical keyboard the company also announced this week. But David doesn’t count it. He thinks it’s not a real product, and that it’s simply a shiny bauble intended to lure consumers toward the new phones. Also this week, Molly recounts her experience with the design-forward and ecologically conscious Nebia showerhead. She also showers praise upon espresso-flavored Zola, and tells us about the new podcast she’s co-hosting: Hair Toss Praise Hands. Mike just listens and nods the whole time.